Thomas Adamson

Thomas Edmund Adamson, age 90, of Decatur, Georgia, passed away on June 17, 2017. Thomas died peacefully at home after a short stay in the hospital. Many family members and friends traveled miles to say their last goodbyes.

Thomas was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 2, 1926, to Zita Adamson, formerly Mulhern, and Thomas Adamson. He spent his childhood living in various neighborhoods across the city, from Riverdale to Marine Park. As a boy, “Tommy” enjoyed playing stickball in the streets, exploring the salt marshes of Jamaica Bay, and rowing a small boat into the waves of Breezy Point.

Thomas had three younger siblings, his sister Joan Sullivan, his late sister Barbara Burke, and his brother James Adamson.

He served in the United States Navy during the final months of the Second World War.

Thomas married his wife of sixty-one years, Eileen Mary Adamson, formerly Meehan, on May 12, 1956, at St. Anselm Catholic Church, in Bay Ridge. Thomas and Eileen had five children during their long life together, living everywhere from Richmond, Virginia to Shillington, Pennsylvania, and, for more than thirty years, in Bradenton, Florida. In 2015 Thomas and Eileen moved to Decatur to be close to family.

Working as a textile engineer and in real estate is how he spent his professional life, but the job he took the most pride in was the fourteen years he spent as the needs fund coordinator for the Manatee County division of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a volunteer position.

Thomas is survived by his wife Eileen Adamson, his sister Joan Sullivan, and his brother James Adamson, as well as by his daughters Eileen Cohen and her husband Tom, Anne Marie Adamson, Jeanne Adamson and her husband John Iodice, Maureen Winkler and her husband Jamie, and his son Thomas Michael Adamson and his wife Michaleen. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Christopher and Elizabeth Cohen, Clara and Louise Iodice, and Connor, Briana, and Cian Winkler, as well as by many nieces and nephews, including Kelly and Ryan Adamson.

Poetry and the history and music of the British Isles, his ancestral homeland, were some of the great joys of Thomas’ life. He also enjoyed telling stories; stories of a time long past but kept alive in the hearts and minds of those lucky enough to hear. Stories informed by his intelligence and his misty-eyed compassion for humanity, as well as by his beautiful sense of humor. And he enjoyed, above all, time spent with his large and loving family. We will remember always his kindness, his smile, and his generous heart.

Services will be held at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Decatur on June 26, 2017, at 11:00 a.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his memory to NAMI of DeKalb County at www.namidekalb.com.